A black musician arrested by Nazis in 1930s Germany endures the horrors of the Dachau death camp in this harrowing novel based on historical fact A self-proclaimed "gay negro" from New Orleans, Clifford Pepperidge made his name in the smoky nightclubs of Harlem in the 1920s, playing piano alongside Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, and other jazz greats. A decade later, he thrills crowds nightly in the cabarets of Weimar Berlin. But dark days are on the horizon as the Nazi Party rises to power. Arrested by Hitler's Gestapo during a roundup of homosexuals, Clifford finds himself placed in "protective custody" and transported to a concentration camp. Stripped of his dignity and his identity, and plunged into a nightmare of forced labor, starvation, and abuse, he seeks escape in his music. When a camp SS officer and jazz aficionado recognizes Clifford, the gentle musician learns just how far a desperate man will go in order to survive. Shining a...

Inspired by the life of Charlie "Bird" Parker, this poignant, provocative, and stylistically brilliant tale paints a vivid picture of the New York City jazz scene In Greenwich Village, jazz is king, enticing hip young crowds with its seductive and vibrant rhythms. Jazz is also the lifeblood pumping through the veins of Richie "Eagle" Stokes, a saxophonist blessed with an otherworldly talent but cursed by cravings for women, fame, and heroin. To ex–college professor David Hillary, musicians like Stokes are gods possessed with the uncanny ability to turn a private inner world inside out and make everything else irrelevant. And for ex-preacher Keel Robinson, Hillary's unlikely savior, the bewitching music serves as a bridge across racial boundaries as he embarks on a forbidden and dangerous love affair. Considered one of the finest novelists of a generation that included James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, and Richard Wright, author John A....

In this fiercely authentic tale from the author of The Man Who Cried I Am, a gifted novelist confronts the powerfully entrenched, profit-motivated forces of corporate racism When his military service ends at the close of World War II—a period that will continue to haunt him throughout his life—Cato Douglass resolves to pursue a writing career and follows his dream to New York City. Soon, his first novel is published, and it appears his dream has been fulfilled, enabling him to travel the world, fall in love, marry, and start a family. But despite possessing a talent that shines brighter than that of many of his literary contemporaries, Cato discovers that he is trapped within a racist system. Only a handful of black writers receive the support of white editors and critics, and because Cato's work pushes the boundaries set by the publishing industry, he is doomed to a life of obscurity. The Chicago Sun-Times...

Generally recognized as one of the most important novels of the tumultuous 1960s, The Man Who Cried I Am vividly evokes the harsh era of segregation that presaged the expatriation of African American intellectuals. Through the eyes of journalist Max Reddick, and with penetrating fictional portraits of Richard Wright and James Baldwin, among other historical figures, John A. Williams reveals the hope, courage, and bitter disappointment of the civil rights era. Infused with powerful artistry and searing anger, as well as insight, humanity, and vision, The Man Who Cried I Am is a classic of postwar American literature.